Lesson 4 The Qur’an & Science As science cannot be sure about the future, it does not make definite predictions. Doubt is the basis of scientific investigation. However, Prophet Muhammad, who was taught by the All- Knowing, made many decisive predictions. Most have come true already; the rest are waiting for their time to come true. Many verses in the Qur’an point to recently discovered and established scientific facts. Does the Qur’an contain everything? The Qur’an describes humanity and the universe. It declares: With Him are the keys of the Unseen. None but He knows them. And He knows what is in the land and the sea. Not a leaf falls but with His Knowl- edge, not a grain amid the darkness of the earth, nothing of wet or dry but (it is noted) in a Manifest Book. (6:59) Ibn Mas‘ud says that the Qur’an provides information on everything, but that we may not be able to see everything in it. Ibn ‘Abbas, the “Interpreter of the Qur’an” and “Scholar of the Ummah,” asserts that if he loses his camel’s rein, he can find it by means of the Qur’an. Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, a major scholar who lived in Egypt in the 15th century, explains that all sciences or branches of knowledge can be found in the Qur’an. Human progress in science and industry has brought about such scientific and technological wonders as airplanes, electricity, motorized transport, and ra- dio and telecommunication, all of which have become basic and essential for our modern, materialistic civilization.
Transcript
Lesson 4
The Qur’an & Science
As science cannot be sure about the future, it does not make definite predictions. Doubt is the basis of scientific investigation. However, Prophet Muhammad, who was taught by the All- Knowing, made many decisive predictions. Most have come true already; the rest are waiting for their time to come true. Many verses in the Qur’an point to recently discovered and established scientific facts.
Does the Qur’an contain everything?
The Qur’an describes humanity and the universe. It declares:
With Him are the keys of the Unseen. None but He knows them. And He knows what is in the land and the sea. Not a leaf falls but with His Knowl-edge, not a grain amid the darkness of the earth, nothing of wet or dry but (it is noted) in a Manifest Book. (6:59)
Ibn Mas‘ud says that the Qur’an provides information on everything, but that we may not be able to see everything in it. Ibn ‘Abbas, the “Interpreter of the Qur’an” and “Scholar of the Ummah,” asserts that if he loses his camel’s rein, he can find it by means of the Qur’an. Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, a major scholar who lived in Egypt in the 15th century, explains that all sciences or branches of knowledge can be found in the Qur’an.
Human progress in science and industry has brought about such scientific and technological wonders as airplanes, electricity, motorized transport, and ra-dio and telecommunication, all of which have become basic and essential for our modern, materialistic civilization.
The Qur’an has not ignored them and points to them in two ways:
The first is, as will be explained below, by way of the Prophets’ miracles.
The second concerns certain historical events. In other words, the wonders of hu-man civilization only merit a passing reference, an implicit reference, or an allu-sion in the Qur’an.
For example, if an aircraft told the Qur’an: “Give me the right to speak and a place in your verses,” the aircrafts of the sphere of Divine Lordship (the planets, the Earth, the moon) would reply on the Qur’an’s behalf: “You may take a place here in proportion to your size.” The Qur’an’s viewpoint of life and the world is com-pletely different from the modern one. It sees the world as a guesthouse, and people as temporary guests preparing themselves for eternal life by undertak-ing their most urgent and important duties. As that which is designed and used mostly for worldly purposes only has a tiny share in servanthood to and worship of God, which is founded upon love of truth and otherworldliness, it therefore has a place in the Qur’an according to its merit.
The Qur’an does not explicitly mention everything necessary for our happiness in this world and the next for another reason:
Religion is a divine test to distinguish elevated and base spirits from each other.
Just as raw materials are refined to separate diamonds from coal and gold from soil, religion tests conscious beings to separate precious “ore” in the “mine” of hu-man potential from dross.
Since the Qur’an was sent to perfect us, it only alludes to those future events per-taining to the world, which everyone will see at the appropriate time, and only opens the door to reason to the degree necessary to prove its argument. If ev-erything was explicit, the test would be meaningless, for the truth of the Divine obligations would be readily apparent. Given that we would then be unable to deny or ignore them, the competition behind our testing and trials would be un-necessary, for we would have to confirm their truth. “Coal” spirits would remain with and appear to be no different from “diamond” spirits. As the great majority of people are always “average,” the Qur’an uses a style and language that every-one can understand. An ordinary person and a great scientist can benefit from the Qur’an, regardless of his or her specialization. A most suitable way to do this is through symbols, metaphors and allegories, comparisons and parables. Those well-versed in knowledge (3:7) know how to approach and benefit from the Qur’an, and conclude that it is the Word of God.
God Almighty gave us intelligence, and the Qur’an urges us to use it to study our-selves, nature, and surrounding events.
Key vocabulary
• Dross: something of low value or quality
DISCUSS
If it mentioned modern scientific and technological
discoveries or everything pertaining to life, nature, history,
and humanity, wouldn’t creating us
in our present form be pointless?
God created us as the best pattern of creation, and gave us many intellectual faculties. But if everything were clear, we would not need these, for we would already know everything.
Finally, if the Qur’an contained specific references to everything we want to know, it would be so large that its complete recitation would be impossible. We would be unable to benefit from its spiritual enlightenment, and would be-come really bored while reciting it. Such results contradict the reasons for the Qur’an’s revelation and its purposes.
Does the Qur’an Allude to Scientific Developments?
Before answering this question, we should point out one important fact:
“Considering science as opposed to religion and scientific study as separate from and independent of the Qur’an is just as mistaken as trying to reduce the Qur’an to a science textbook by showing that every new scientific theory or fact can be
found in it.”
For example, some have claimed that dabbet al-ard (a little moving creature) men-tioned in Qur’an 27:82 is the virus that causes AIDS. However, this is a hasty conclusion for several reasons: The Qur’an is silent about this particle’s nature; if we accept this assertion, we also must accept other venereal disease-causing bacteria or viruses; and, we cannot know whether new and more lethal viral diseases will appear in the future.
Considering science as opposed
to religion and scientific study as
separate from and independent of the
Qur’an is just as mistaken as trying to reduce the Qur’an to
a science textbook by showing that
every new scientific theory or fact can be
found in it.
The context in which dabbet al-ard appears suggests that it will emerge toward the end of this world, when almost no one believes in God. So, we must not show haste in trying to find some type of correspondence between a Qur’anic verse and every new development in science and technology. Scientific theories are usually like clothes, for both are discarded after a while. Trying to show that every new scientific fact or theory can be found in the Qur’an displays an inferiority com-plex and makes science more important than the Qur’an. Each Qur’anic verse and expression has a universal content. Therefore, any time-specific interpreta-tion can address only one aspect of that universal content.
Every interpreter, scientist, and saint prefers a particular aspect as a result of his or her spiritual discovery or intuition, personal evidence, or natural disposition. Besides, we accept both Newton’s physics and Einstein’s physics as science and therefore true. Although in absolute terms both may be false, there certainly must be some truth in both.
Qur’anic expressions have multiple meanings. For example, consider the verses: He let forth the two seas that meet together, between them a barrier, they do not overpass (55:19-20). These verses indicate all the pairs of “seas” or realms, spiritual and material, figurative and actual, from the realms of Lordship and servanthood to the spheres of necessity and contingency, from this world to the Hereafter (including this visible, corporeal world and all unseen worlds), the Pa-cific and Atlantic oceans, the Mediterranean and Red seas, salt water and sweet water in the seas and underground, and such large rivers as the Euphrates and Tigris that carry sweet water and salty seas to which they flow. All of these, as well as many others are included in these verses, either literally or figuratively.
The Qur’an is not a science textbook that has to expound upon cosmological or sci-entific matters; rather, it is the eternal interpretation of the Book of the Universe and the interpreter of all natural and other sciences. It comments upon the visi-ble and invisible worlds, and discloses the spiritual treasures of the Divine Beau-tiful Names in the heavens and the Earth. The Qur’an is the key leading to an understanding of the hidden realities behind events taking place in nature and human life, and is the tongue of the hidden worlds in the manifest world.
The Qur’an considers creation only for the sake of knowing its Creator; science con-siders creation only for its own sake. The Qur’an addresses humanity; science addresses only those who specialize in it. Since the Qur’an uses creation as evi-dence and proof to guide us, its evidence must be easily understandable to all of us non-specialists. Guidance requires that relatively unimportant things should be touched on briefly, while subtle points should be discussed as completely as possible through parables and comparisons. Guidance should not change what is obvious, so that people are not confused.
Key vocabulary
• Disposition: to act of think in a particular way
IMAGINE
Even if a Qur’anic verse appears to
point exactly to an established scientific
fact, should we restrict its meaning to only that
fact? Wouldn’t that be leaving out other
possible meanings and interpretations as well?
THINK
“The Qur’an’s primary aims are to make God Almighty known, to open the way to faith and worship, and to organize our individual and social life so that we may
attain perfect happiness in both worlds.”
To achieve this aim, it refers to things and events, as well as scientific facts, in proportion to their importance. Thus the Qur’an provides detailed explanations of the pillars of faith, the fundamentals of religion, the foundations of human life, and essentials of worship, but only hints at other relatively less significant things.
The Qur’an’s primary aims
are to make God Almighty known,
to open the way to faith and worship,
and to organize our individual and
social life so that we may attain perfect happiness in both
worlds.
THINK
If the Qur’an was not compiled in this way, how could we derive
any benefit?
Examples
• Ways the Qur’an hints of technological advances and marks their final develop-ment is by mentioning the miracles of the Prophets.
• It encourages us to fly in the air and alludes implicitly to the fact that one day we will make spaceships and aircraft: And to Solomon (We subjugated) the wind; its morning course was a month’s journey, and its evening course was a month’s journey (34:12).
• It invites us to learn how to cure every illness: (Jesus said): I also heal the blind and the leper, and bring to life the dead, by the leave of God (3:49), and hints that one day we will be so successful that people will find it hard to believe that they will actually die.
• The verse: Said he who possessed knowledge of the Book: “I will bring it (the throne of the Queen of Sheba) to you (Solomon in Jerusalem) before ever your glance returns to you” (27:40), foretells that one day images or even physical items will be transmitted instantly through knowledge of the Divine Book of the Universe, just as those with knowledge of the Book of Divine Revelation can bring things from a long distance in the blink of an eye.
• The Qur’an symbolically informs us that it might be possible to identify a mur-derer by some cells taken from his body at the time of death: A murderer was revealed in the time of Moses, by smiting the slain man with part of a cow that God Almighty ordered the Children of Israel to slaughter (2:67-73).
• Below are further examples to illustrate the Qur’an’s allusions to scientific facts and developments.
• The Creator, Who is not bound by the human concept of time, informs us that, in a gen- eral sense, the future will be the age of knowledge and information, as well as an age of faith and belief: Soon We shall show them Our signs in the outer world and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this is truth. Is it not enough that your Lord witnesses all things? (41:53).
• What the Qur’an says about milk and its production is as brilliant as the drink itself, and our understanding of it has brought us great benefits: And verily in cattle (too) will you find an instructive sign. From what is from their bodies, between excretions and blood, We pro- duce, for your drink, milk, pure and agreeable to those who drink it (16:66).
• The Qur’an narrates the process in remarkable detail: part-digestion and ab-sorption of what is ingested as food, and then a second process and refinement in the glands. Milk is a wholesome and agreeable source of human nourish-ment, and yet its owner rejects it as useless.
• The Qur’an reveals that all things are created in pairs: Glory be to God, who cre-ated in pairs all things, of what the earth produces, of themselves, and of which they have no knowledge (36:36).
WHAT DID WE LEARN?
ESSAY
ESSAY
• As science cannot be sure about the future, it does not make definite predictions. Doubt is the basis of scientific investigation
• The Qur’an does not explicitly mention every-thing necessary for our happiness in this world and the next
• Qur’anic expressions have multiple meanings.• Considering science as opposed to religion and
scientific study as separate from and indepen-dent of the Qur’an is just as mistaken as trying to reduce the Qur’an to a science textbook by show-ing that every new scientific theory or fact can be found in it.
• The Qur’an alludes to many scientific and techno-logical advances
1. According to the text, why doesn’t the Qur’an specifically address all scientific and worldly issues, only alluding to some?
2. What is the divine test to distinguish elevated and base sprits from each other?3. Why is it wrong to study religion and science separate and independent from the Qur’an?4. Why is the Qur’ans’ primary aim, according to the text?
Since Qur’anic verses have multiple meanings, analyze the text and explain in a 2-3 paragraph essay why it is important not to focus on only one meaning of a verse.
Now that you have read about the Divine Books, Qur’an and the Qur’ans’ direct and indirect relationship with science, write a narrative essay detailing your understanding of the importance of combing science, religion, and the Qur’an together. Support your narrative with specifics and details from the lessons in this chapter.
Answer the following questions in detail: 1. Why has the Qur’an been given the highest rank among the infinite words of Allah? 2. What are the four fundamental aims of the Qur’an?3. Over how many years was the Qur’an revealed?4. Which books or suhuf were given to which prophets?
